Tag Archives: Jim Kelly

We live in a time where people are in absolute terror of being labeled or having labels put on anything. Especially creative folk. Ask a writer what she writes and she may very well look at you as if you’re something that dropped from the south end of a northbound horse while replying; “I refuse to put a label on my work.” Ask a musician what type of music he plays and he looks at you like you tried to shank his momma as he answers; “I don’t like to put a label on my work. Labels are limiting.”

Now, you may ask what does that have to do with my reviewing the highly entertaining and informative Blaxploitation documentary MACKED, HAMMERED, SLAUGHTERED AND SHAFTED? To be honest, absolutely nothing. It was a thought that occurred to me while watching the movie’s various interviews with the icons of Blaxploitation: Ron O’Neal. Jim Brown. The late great Jim Kelly and William Marshall. Gloria Hendry. Fred Williamson. Antonio Fargas. Robert Hooks. Rudy Ray Moore. Glynn Turman. The question is put to each of them what is Blaxploitation and each and every one had a different interpretation of what the Blaxploitation genre meant to them on a personal and professional level. Maybe the problem with labels is not the label itself but that people can never agree on one solid definition of what the label means?

Yeah, my brain ran to thoughts such as that while watching the movie and that’s a good thing because I enjoy watching a movie that makes me think. Especially when it’s about a subject I love such as Blaxploitation. That period of American Cinema isn’t just history for me. It’s very much an alive and vital genre as I vividly recall seeing most Blaxploitation movie double and triple features on Manhattan’s infamous 42end street during the decade Blaxploitation dominated movie theaters. (Roughly 1970 to 1979) And it’s a genre that still has a massive influence on my writing.

MACKED, HAMMERED, SLAUGHTERED AND SHAFTED runs only 92 minutes and covers a lot of ground in that relatively short running time. But writer/director David F. Walker through his interviews manages to give us a fairly comprehensive overview of the psychological, financial and artistic aspects of the genre. And it’s an overview given by the men and women who were actually there and working during that time. And they speak quite frankly and honestly about how it was and what was going on. There are some truly eye-opening moments in those interviews such as when Jim Brown and Fred Williamson break it down financially exactly why Hollywood needs black actors far more than the black actors need Hollywood. Or when Jim Kelly talks about how Hollywood studios gladly sacrifice truckloads of money just as long as they can continue to promote the image of blacks that they want to promote.

I’ll occasionally have discussions with young black fans of films that are very dismissive and even disgusted with Blaxploitation. They see it as not being very far removed from the mammies and coons and minstrels of earlier Hollywood years. This documentary is made for them. It’s impossible to seriously study Blaxploitation and not also study how the genre related to the racial/political climate in America at that time. One is bound up in the other and if you explore one then you begin to understand the other.

And then when you throw in the dynamic that in the late 1960s Hollywood was dying as an industry and Blaxploitation saved it…well, that’s another whole bag of chips we done opened that we got to chew on if we’re gonna talk about the subject honestly. Sure, many of the images in those movies were hideously negative but some were uplifting and positive as well. Blaxploitation was just as much about empowerment and control as it was about making a profit and entertaining working folks on a Friday or Saturday night.

“In China during The Sung Dynasty; a single golden statue was cast for the use of The Emperor. It indicated seven forbidden acupuncture points. Used in correct sequence they brought about extraordinary sexual vigor and youth. Used incorrectly they brought instant and painful death. Stolen, hidden, lost and rediscovered through the centuries, the statue has come to be known as The Golden Needles of Ecstasy.”

There are some beginnings to movies and books I so wish I had written because they encapsulate perfectly in a few lines what the thing you’re about to read or watch is all about. And those lines of dialog I quoted at the beginning of this review tells you everything you need to know about GOLDEN NEEDLES. There’s this statue. Everybody wants this statue. Everybody is perfectly willing to double-cross, lie, cheat, steal and kill to get possession of same statue. And for 92 minutes that’s exactly what the cast of this movie does.

GOLDEN NEEDLES has been described as a Martial Arts Movie version of “The Maltese Falcon” and that’s valid. Joe Don Baker is Dan, a professional gambler/ex-thief hired by Felicity (Elizabeth Ashley) to steal the statue from gangster Lin Toa (Roy Chiao.) Felicity had a deal with Lin Toa to buy the statue from him but he reneged and so Felicity has no choice but to rely on this somewhat eccentric adventurer. Dan’s partner Kwan (Tony Lee) is killed as a result of the theft so now it’s become personal for Dan. The hunt for the statue takes him all over Hong Kong, with Felicity sometimes on his side, sometimes not. He even has to travel to Los Angeles and hook up with his old buddy Jeff (Jim Kelly) and then back to Hong Kong, dogged by Su Lin (Frances Fong) who has shadowy ties to the police and who also wants the statue.

GOLDEN NEEDLES is one of my favorite 70’s movies for a number of reasons. One: it’s directed by Robert Clouse who directed the classic “Enter The Dragon” “Black Belt Jones” “Gymkata” and “The Big Brawl.” Say what you want about Mr. Clouse but for my money, he was a director who knew how to keep a story moving. GOLDEN NEEDLES hits the ground running and never slows down. The story and characters keep moving as Clouse knows how to do characterization while still advancing the plot.

I really enjoy Joe Don Baker in this one and I think the smartest movie in this movie is to not have him do any kind of martial art. His character is a barroom brawler and it really makes the fight scenes interesting to see him take on karate killers and kung fu masters with his barroom brawler style. He’s a big guy and in the fight scenes he uses that to his advantage, taking a number of hits and kicks from his opponents to get in close where he can do his damage. Joe Don Baker is also an eccentric actor and he shows it off here. It’s a lot of fun to watch him. Especially in his scenes with Jim Kelly who he hooks up with when the action shifts to Los Angeles. He and Kelly have good chemistry together and the only problem I have with this movie is that when the action goes back to Hong Kong, Jim Kelly is left behind.

This is the movie that made me fall in love with Elizabeth Ashley. She has such a wonderful voice and expressive eyes she owns ever scene she’s in. Burgess Meredith plays The Bad Guy in this movie who wants The Golden Needles and he chews every piece of scenery in sight.

Old School Actress Ann Sothern shows up here as the madam of the gambling joint Dan hangs out in. There’s some fine action sequences such as when Dan breaks into Lin Toa’s place to steal The Golden Needles, a karate battle Jim Kelly has in a Los Angeles health spa and near the end when Joe Don Baker is pursued by a bloodthirsty mob who mistakenly thinks he has killed a child. It’s actually a pretty harrowing scene and one that Joe Don Baker sells as he honestly looks scared shitless as he’s trying to escape from the crowd screaming for his blood.

So should you see GOLDEN NEEDLES? Absolutely yes. Get yourself ready with the snacks of your choice and GOLDEN NEEDLES. Then just sit back and enjoy.

Jim Kelly’s “Black Belt Jones” was such a beloved blaxplotation hit and so enjoyed by so many people that over the years I have been frequently asked why a sequel was never made. And I would always answer that there actually was a sequel made as I distinctly remember seeing it in a 42end Street grindhouse back in the late 70’s/early 80’s. But the movie never was billed or publicized as the sequel to “Black Belt Jones” and to be honest, it’s such a dismal and disappointing letdown that word of mouth most likely killed it back then. And for the longest time it wasn’t available on home video on VHS so it never got a chance to be seen even then. I saw it a couple of times of HBO during the 1980’s which kept my memories of it alive.

I was only able to see it again for the first time since then thanks to the Warner Brothers 4 Film Favorites: Urban Action Collection. I got my copy a few years and paid $9.99 for it. I’m fairly certain you can get it for five bucks now. It’s well worth getting for the excellent “Black Belt Jones”“Three The Hard Way” and “Black Samson.” Yeah, HOT POTATO is the real stinker in the bunch but since I’m certain you can get the collection for five bucks at your local Target, I still say it’s worth buying the collection. You get three really great blaxplotation classics for five bucks and to me that’s putting up with one that wouldn’t be worth buying if it were packaged on its own.

HOT POTATO takes Black Belt Jones (Jim Kelly) out of the urban environment of the earlier film. In fact, there’s no characters from the first film here, which is why a lot of folks dispute that this movie actually is a sequel to “Black Belt Jones.” But there are too many people behind the scenes for it to be anything else but. In this one, Jones is charged with rescuing the daughter of an American ambassador. “Black Belt Jones” did hint that Jones worked for the CIA so I go along with him being on the other side of the world in the Asian country of Chang Lan. To help him in his mission, Jones recruits mercenaries Rhino (George Mommelli) Johnny Chicago (Geoffrey Benney) and local police inspector Pamala (Irene Tsu.)

What I don’t go along with is the utter and total lack of charm, wit, talent and humor in HOT POTATO that made “Black Belt Jones” such a wonderful piece of entertainment. There’s a couple of scenes early in the movie that indicate that Johnny Chicago and The Rhino could have been a Monk and Ham style pair of sidekicks but Geoffrey Benney is such a stiff and George Mommelli is such a cartoon character that there is nothing about them that can be taken seriously. George Mommelli really surprised me at how bad he was in this movie as he was so entertaining in other movies I’ve seen him such as Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” and “Phantom of The Paradise.” The Rhino wears a picnic tablecloth as a poncho and for the whole movie his shtick is that he’s a fat, sweaty, uncouth slob. The only thing I liked about his character was that much like the Joe Don Baker character in “Golden Needles” he’s not a martial artist. He’s a barroom brawler and that makes for an interesting contrast in fighting styles during his fight scenes. Johnny Chicago has an intriguing background that is touched upon that due to his wife and daughter being blown up by a car bomb meant for him he has given up on relationships and is now only interested in working for money but nothing much is done with that. As a writer I hate to see characters wasted and these were two characters that really could have been standouts.

The most disappointing thing about HOT POTATO is the fight scenes. And if you can’t depend upon fight scenes in a martial arts movie then you’re screwed. There are numerous fight scenes where the bad guys simply stand there and let Jim Kelly beat up on them. And it doesn’t help that the fight scenes have ridiculous slide whistle sound effects when Kelly leaps through the air or when punches are thrown.

The bad guy (Sam Hiona) has the great name of Carter Rangoon but that’s the only thing he’s got going for him. The final confrontation between him and Black Belt Jones is lacking in any suspense whatsoever and when you see in the credits that Jim Kelly staged his own fight sequences you kinda understand why.

There is no point to talking about the acting is this movie because nobody is even trying to act in anything approaching a level to engage us on even an It’s So Bad It’s Good level.

Let’s cut to the chase here and save us all time. Should you see HOT POTATO? If you had to purchase it by itself, I would say absolutely not. But since it’s packaged along with three really good movies I say put it on and let it play while you go about your household chores. It’s a disappointing movie totally unworthy of the charm and talent of Jim Kelly and everybody associated with it. It further doesn’t help that the music score frequently rips off the familiar “Enter The Dragon” theme song during the poorly choreographed fight scenes to try and remind you of that far better movie.

When it comes to the subject of martial arts movies there isn’t a sane human being alive that would argue that Bruce Lee was The King. But if there is such a thing as The Prince of Martial Arts movies then that title certainly has to go to Jim Kelly. Playing up the novelty of a black master of karate ensured that African-American audiences in the 1970’s, hungry to see black heroes up on the screen would pack the theaters. And they did. I and my friends must have went to see BLACK BELT JONES at least half a dozen times during its original theatrical run and we weren’t the only ones. Whenever the subject of blaxploitation comes up and I’m asked to recommend titles, BLACK BELT JONES is always one of the first movies I mention. The non-stop action, the humor, the wonderfully 70’s fashions and dialog and of course the charm of Jim Kelly as well as his co-star Gloria Hendry makes this essential to any blaxploitation collection.

Mafia Don Steffano (Andre Philippe) gets word that the city is going to build a glitzy new civic center and he buys up all the land on the proposed site. There’s one more piece of property he needs; The Blackbyrd Karate School owned by Pop Byrd (Scatman Crothers) who won’t sell. Local drug dealer Pinky (Malik Carter) is in The Mob’s pocket and is engaged to force Pop Byrd to sell. Pop Byrd owes Pinky some money and Pinky inflates the debt, offering a deal for Pop Byrd to pay off the I.O.U. with the karate school. Pop Byrd is accidentally killed by Pinky’s henchmen during negotiations. Enter Black Belt Jones (Jim Kelly) a former student of Pop Byrd’s who now works for an unnamed government agency but is hinted to be The CIA. Along with Pop’s beautiful and dangerous daughter Sydney (Gloria Hendry) who is as adept in karate as Jones himself, Black Belt Jones goes after not only Pinky’s gang but Don Steffano himself to avenge Pop Byrd’s death and save the karate school.

For movies like this, you don’t need much of a plot to get things going and one of the strengths of BLACK BELT JONES is that it takes such a simple plot but due to the energy of the actors, the fight scenes, the characters and the splicing together of the blaxplotation and martial arts genres it makes it so much fun to watch.

Jim Kelly himself would never claim to be all that as an actor but he had so much swagger, cool and charm that it more than made up for any lack of acting talent. And there never was a cat who could pull off wearing an afro that big and not have it look ridiculous on screen.

This is the movie that has the fight scene where his cohort Toppy (Alan Weeks) turns lights on and off in the karate school at three second intervals so that the outnumbered Jones can ambush Pinky and his thugs with comedic effect. Listen closely to the comments Pinky makes during the scene and I guarantee you’ll be on the floor laughing. In fact, Malik Carter walks away with the acting honors in this one. Pinky is a wonderful bad guy, full of just as much swagger and charm as Jones himself and he’s got the best dialog of anybody in the movie. Earl Jolly Brown plays one of Pinky’s chief henchmen and you’ll recognize him as being one of Mr. Big’s henchmen in the blaxplotation flavored James Bond movie “Live And Let Die.”

There’s also some very recognizable faces such as Marla Gibbs from “The Jeffersons” and “227.” Ted Lange from “The Love Boat” and Eric Laneuville who seemingly was in just about every movie and guest-starred on every TV show of the 70’s. His name is not one most people recognize but his face is. After a successful acting career he has since gone on to be one of the most talented directors working in television with multiple episodes of dramas such as “Quantum Leap” “Monk” “Lost” and “Everybody Hates Chris” to his credit.

And then there’s Gloria Hendry. Most people remember her as Rosie Carver in “Live And Let Die” but for me BLACK BELT JONES is the role I always think of first when her name is mentioned. I have no idea if she actually was involved in martial arts back then but she sure looks as if she was in this movie. She’s got two terrific fights scenes: the poolroom brawl in which she wallops the piss outta half a dozen of Pinky’s toughs, all of them twice her size and the most famous fight scene in BLACK BELT JONES where she and Jones take on a hoard of enemies at a car wash, battling them in a sea of soap bubbles. It doesn’t hurt that during the fight the only thing Miss Hendry is wearing is a denim shirt that barely covers up her other assets.

What else? Oh, yeah…the absolutely kickass theme song performed by Dennis Coffey. It’s a legendary theme song and rightly so, played over the opening credits while Jones has his first fight scene in a parking lot. It’s a fight scene that has sound effects you just don’t hear anymore. When Jones hits these guys it sounds like somebody whacking a leather couch with a tennis racket.

So should you see BLACK BELT JONES? Yes. Yes. A thousand times YES. Jim Kelly got robbed in “Enter The Dragon” when his character got killed off (they shoulda killed off that stiff John Saxon instead) but Robert Clouse and Fred Weintraub, knowing what they had, more than made up for it by giving him such a fun and exciting star vehicle. BLACK BELT JONES is nothing but fun from start to finish. For those of you Politically Correct People please be advised that there are racial and sexual stereotypes galore and there is frequent use of the N Word. But if you can accept that the movie was made in a less enlightened period and go with it as such, you’ll have a great time watching it.

If you want to see BLACK BELT JONES as well as three other blaxplotation movies of that era: the sequel to BLACK BELT JONES: “Hot Potato”“Three The Hard Way” which has Jim Kelly team up with Jim Brown and Fred Williamson and “Black Samson” next time you hit Target see if you can find the Warner Brothers 4 Film Favorites: Urban Action Collection. I got my copy a few years and paid $9.99 for it. I’m fairly certain you can get it for five bucks now. Even though “Hot Potato” is a big disappointment, the collection is still worth your money. Enjoy.

Here’s where we throw anything resembling objective film criticism out of the window, friends. You see, we’re dealing with THREE THE HARD WAY here, which is a top shelf example of the blaxploitation genre that along with Kung Fu movies populated most of the grindhouse movie theatres on 42end Street during the 70’s. Theatres that my friends and I practically lived in on Saturdays. We’d go check out three movies for $3.00 and frequently would leave one theatre and cross the street and go into another and see three more movies. Ah, good times…with only $10 in my pocket I was in movie heaven.

The plot of THREE THE HARD WAY is as simple and uncomplicated as a peanut butter sandwich: Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson) is the charismatic head of a Neo-Nazi white supremacist organization. He has bankrolled the research of Dr. Fortrero (Richard Angarola) and the result is a toxin that will only kill African-Americans. Dr. Fortrero explains that it’s based on sickle cell anemia which as he says with smug Caucasian superiority: “We all know only affects blacks!”

Dr Fortrero has been keeping a large number of black men and women imprisoned in a compound that he’s been using them as guinea pigs. One of the test subjects breaks away and manages to reach a friend of his, a Los Angeles record producer named Jimmy Lait (Jim Brown) Feather sends men to kill Jimmy’s friend and in the process they kidnap Jimmy’s girlfriend, Wendy Kane (Sheila Frazier). Jimmy’s forced to stop work producing the next hit album of The Impressions (and yes, there was an actual group with that name…go Google it and learn something) as he tries to find Wendy and uncover the conspiracy.

He recruits two friends of his to help: the slick, smooth and totally cool public relations king of Detroit, Jagger Daniels (Fred Williamson) and world famous karate champion/martial arts expert Mister Keyes (Jim Kelly) and as the tag line of the movie boasts: “Action explodes all over the place as the big three unite to save their race!” They get into a shootout with some of Feather’s hitmen who have been following Jimmy and by questioning one of them find out that Feather is sending squads of heavily armed men to Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Chicago to poison the water supply with the toxin. The three heroes separate to the three cities to stop Feather’s men and then unite to rescue Wendy and bring down The Man.

Look, I’m not going to try and con you into watching THREE THE HARD WAY by attributing all kinds of socio-political subtexts and psychological levels of Black Awareness to a movie that simply has none. THREE THE HARD WAY is about one thing: getting together the three hottest black action movie heroes at that time and turning them loose to do what they do best: kick ass. They don’t even bother with the taking names part. They’re too cool for that.

Jim Brown and Fred Williamson spend a lot of the movie’s running time just trying to out cool each other (Williamson wins) and surprisingly, Brown has moments where he really tries to act and show he’s not just in the movie to look tough, bark orders and dress pretty. Fred Williamson is shameless in his rampant scene stealing which he does every time he’s on screen. He’s clearly the best natural actor out of the three as both Brown and especially Jim Kelly look much more at home during the action scenes. Sheila Frazier plays Brown’s girlfriend Wendy and quite frankly she’s got all the sex appeal of a broom handle. Her role is a thankless one as she has little more to do than get slapped around by the bad guys and scream: “You just wait till my man gets here!”

There’s a bunch of fun scenes in this one: The scene where Jimmy goes to Jagger to ask for his help and Jagger turns him down because he just doesn’t believe such a fantastic story. The two men are ambushed by a hoard of assassins and in a furious shootout at an outdoor arcade kill them all.

Jagger: “Shit, you shoulda explained it like that in the first place.”

When Jimmy, Jagger and Keyes are getting nowhere interrogating one of Feather’s men, Jagger calls in The Duchess, The Countess and The Princess, a trio of women. One’s black, one Asian and one white. One dresses in red, one in white and one in blue. They ride color co-ordinated motorcycles. And they are bad. Jagger assures his friends that the three women can make the prisoner talk. There’s a terrific scene where Jagger and Keyes are playing chess and listening to the screams coming from upstairs. The three women tell Jagger and Keyes they can go talk to the guy. The guy doesn’t have a mark on him but he acts like he’s been dragged through Hell’s bathroom and he spills his guts.

There’s a scene where the cops are harassing Mister Keyes and they ask for his driver’s license. One cop reads it and smirks: “What kinda first name is ‘Mister’?”

And that’s just a few of them. THREE THE HARD WAY probably isn’t going to appeal to a lot of movie fans today. It looks like it was filmed on weekends with a budget of about nine thousand bucks. The plot holes are big enough to throw a pimpmobile through. The acting is sometimes embarrassing. The action sequences look like they were made up on the spot. Despite having automatic weapons the bad guys seem incapable of hitting anything while the good guys pick them off with one shot apiece from their handguns.

But THREE THE HARD WAY is a helluva lot of fun if you approach it in the right way. Jim Brown and Fred Williamson have an undeniable magnetism and screen presence. They know how to keep your attention on what they’re doing while they’re doing it. Jim Kelly shows his magnificent martial arts skills in several awesome fight scenes. Back in the day, the only guy better than Jim Kelly was Bruce Lee. Woefully, this isn’t Kelly’s best movie. Matter of fact, he’s much better in “Enter The Dragon” or “Black Belt Jones” and he looks downright uncomfortable in a lot of scenes where he just has to stand around and react to the dialog of others but then again, THREE THE HARD WAY isn’t a movie you watch for acting chops.

So should you see THREE THE HARD WAY? Absolutely. It’s one of the classics of blaxploitation and notable for it’s teaming of the biggest black action heroes at the time in one movie. If you’ve got any love at all for the genre, show some love back and the next time you feel funky on a Saturday night, watch THREE THE HARD WAY.

If you want to see THREE THE HARD WAY as well as three other blaxploitation movies of that era: “Black Belt Jones” “Hot Potato” and “Black Samson” next time you hit Target see if you can find the Warner Brothers 4 Film Favorites: Urban Action Collection. I got my copy a few years and paid $9.99 for it. I’m fairly certain you can get it for five bucks now. Even though “Hot Potato” is a big disappointment, it’s still worth your money. Enjoy.